Humiliation

New York voted.
New York voted and I, I celebrated.
Sharing photos
Of the Stonewall and the rainbow colored Empire State Building.
We celebrated
Like dogs lapping up treats for good behavior.
New York voted and we thanked the benevolent gods granting rights that
Should already be mine.

13 years ago, I marched up Congress Avenue in Austin
19 years old, angry that the State of Texas wanted to keep me from adopting children I did not then want. I marched with swingers and straights and drag queens. Transfolk and gays and lesbians and fellow bisexuals with their dogs and their children and I thought then of my mother who was willing to be arrested as she fought for her right to enter a building the same way as any able bodied person.
I thought of my mother who feared the state of New York taking away the child of a single woman with a disability.

New York voted.
I cheered on twitter and I liked post after post on facebook.
I paused NCIS to share the news with my mother.

Leaping for treats.
Begging for a handout.
But New York voted!
Because equal rights are not spelled out in plain enough language in the
Declaration of Independence
And the 1st and
14th amendments.

New York voted.
And we celebrated.
With parties at the Stonewall
And a rainbow empire state building.
And turned our sights to California and other states that matter.
Where else?
Where else can we beg for rights
That should already be ours?